CTAB-templated synthesis and characterization of nanorod-shaped NiCo2O4 crystals for supercapacitor application

Abstract

In this endeavor, NiCo2O4 crystals were synthesized through facile, cost-effective cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), templated precipitation technique. The formation of NiCo2O4 crystals was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic studies. The surface morphologies of NiCo2O4 nanocrystals were closely associated with the CTAB concentration, which has a significant effect on the electrochemical performance of the prepared nanocrystals. The freshly prepared crystal demonstrates a well-defined one-dimensional nanorod structure. Moreover, the electrochemical features of all the freshly synthesized NiCo2O4 crystals were examined by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometric techniques. Among the different NiCo2O4 crystals, the best NiCo2O4-D (prepared using 0.02 M of CTAB solution) electrode material showed an outstanding performance with a high specific capacitance of 809 Fg−1 at a scan rate of 5 m V s−1 and displaying an exceptional cycling stability of 94% of the initial capacitance retention, even after 3000 continuous CV cycles at a high scan rate of 100 mV s−1 in an aqueous 1 M KOH electrolyte solution. Hence, the distinctive CTAB template NiCo2O4-D crystal could be employed as a significant candidate for supercapacitor application.